Concrete form tie rod assembly

ABSTRACT

A concrete form tie rod assembly having an elongated tie rod, a pair of anchor pins, a pair of spool-like sleeve members, and a pair of anchor wedges. The tie rod has a plurality of forged gripping teeth adjacent each of its ends. These forged gripping teeth extend downwardly from the body of the tie rod. The anchor pins are formed with a head and an elongated body. The elongated body portion of each pin has a channel in its top surface extending the greater portion of the length of the pin and in this channel are formed upwardly extending teeth that mate with the teeth on the tie rod when the two members are positioned parallel to each other with a portion of their longitudinal sides in contact. The head on the anchor pin is eccentrically located with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion of the pin and the head of the pin has a channel passing through it at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion. At the end of the pin opposite from the head an aperture is formed in the elongated body and it passes all the way through the body and its function is to receive an anchor wedge which is driven into it after the spool-like sleeve member has been slid over the tie rod and the anchor pin while these two are in mating engagement.

[ Get. 15, 1974 CONCTE FORM TIE ROD ASSEMBLY [76] Inventor: Eugene C. J. Aubee, Jr., Carpenter Rd., Hope, R.l. 02831 [22] Filed: Jan. 9, 1973 [21 Appl. No.: 322,234

[52] US. CL... 249/213, 249/43 [51] Int. Cl. E04g 17/06 [58] Field of Search 249/40-43,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,219,762 3/1917 Osborn 52/699 X 1,682,740 9/1928 Colt 249/46 X 2,004,462 6/1935 Bush 249/42 2,709,292 5/1955 Otti 249/43 2,739,364 3/1956 Clemans 249/43 X 3,327,988 6/1967 Bridges 249/213 3,367,620 2/1968 Holt 249/213 3,417,958 12/1968 Rugger 249/40 3,627,254 12/1971 Pruitt 249/213 Primary Examiner.l. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-John S. Brown Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Barlow & Barlow [57] ABSTRACT A concrete form tie rod assembly having an elongated tie rod, a pair of anchor pins, 21 pair of spool-like sleeve members, and a pair of anchor wedges. The tie rod has a plurality of forged gripping teeth adjacent each of its ends. These forged gripping teeth extend downwardly from the body of the tie rod. The anchor pins are formed with a head and an elongated body. The elongated body portion of each pin has a channel in its top surface extending the greater portion of the length of the pin and in this channel are formed upwardly extending teeth that mate with the teeth on the tie rod when the two members are positioned parallel to each other with a portion of their longitudinal sides in contact. The head on the anchor pin is eccentrically located with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion of the pin and the head of the pin has a channel passing through it at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion. At the end of the pin opposite from the head an aperture is formed in the elongated body and it passes. all the way through the body and its function is to receive an anchor wedge which is driven into it after the spool-like sleeve member has been slid over the tie rod and the anchor pin while these two are in mating engagement.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 1 CONCRETE FORM TIE ROD ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a tie rod assembly utilized to hold together a form to which concrete is poured. In thepast tie rods of many designs have been used. Some of these known tie rods have threaded portions at their opposite ends into which are threaded bolts for securing the ties to the forms. Other known tie rods have their opposite ends threaded on the outside and tightening or locking members are screw-threaded thereon to secure the ties to the forms. The basic disadvantage of these former types of ties is the fact that both during assembly and disassembly of the form a threading and unthreading operation must be performed. Such threading and unthreading are performed manually, and with the present high cost of constructional labor, it is desirable to provide a tie that can be assembled and disassembled quickly without this time consuming threading. Additionally many of the tie rods having threaded ends also require spreaders or rod spread devices to maintain the desired width of opening between the walls of the forms.

Another previous type of tie rod structure is one having specially shaped ends to receive pivotally mounting locking bars or one which can receive a locking dog member. These devices have not been entirelysatisfactory due to the necessity of the additional hardware involved.

An additional problem of prior tie rods results from the fact that in building concrete walls different thicknesses are used in various parts of the building, these being basically controlled by the building codes. As a result, it is necessary for a builder to have a tremendous inventory of tie rods where he is utilizing the prior devices because they may only be used to space the form walls a certain distance apart. In other words, a different tie rod is needed for every different thickness of wall to be poured and this can be a tremendous number when it is understood that wall thicknesses vary by onequarter of an inch increments from a thickness of 6 inches to thicknesses of over 60 inches. In tie rod assemblies utilizing a spreader, the different length of spreader would also have to be used for any difference in wall thickness desired in setting up the forms. A further disadvantage of many of the previous tie rod assemblies is that they require two men to assemble the tie rod to the spaced walls of the form.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a novel tie rod assembly that can be applied or removed from a concrete wall form by one man. The tie rod assembly requires no spreaders, no rod spread devices or any bracing to maintain the desired wall thickness. It is the most versatile tie rod system yet to be designed and a mere four different length tie rods can provide a fast choice of 48 wall thicknesses that vary by increments of one-quarter of an inch through a range of6 inches to over 58 inches. In many cases one length tie rod may be all that is necessary to do all the varying thicknesses on one complete job. Additionally by virtue of the design of this novel tie rod assembly, very little bracing is required during building of the forms.

In operation the wall forms are spaced a desired distance apart with previously made apertures in the opposing wall forms positioned so that they are in alignment. Next the tie rod is inserted through the two aligned apertures so that it has its teeth which are located at its opposite ends positioned outside the space bounded by the aligned form walls. The heads of the anchor pins are then inserted through the apertures in the form walls from the outside of these walls. This is done by aligning the off angle channel in the head of the anchor pin with the body of the tie rod. Next in the same motion the anchor pin is pivoted upwardly into parallel alignment with the tie rod while at the same time the head of the pin passes through the aperture and grabs the wall form on its inner face. In this position the teeth on the ends of the tie rod mate with and are grippingly engaged by the teeth formed in the channel of the body portion of the anchor pin. The reel-like tubular member next has its bore slid over the outer surface of the mated tie rod and anchor pin and the sleeve member is pushed thereon until its one flange surface is in engagement with the form wall. When it is desired to lock the assembly in position, a whale is positioned horizontally across adjacent spool-like sleeve members and an anchor wedge is driven into the aperture at the end of the elongated body portion of the anchor pin to lock the sleeve in position. This having been done on both ends of the tie rod member the form is then ready for pouring. As can be easily understood, the assembly both keeps the walls of the form from spreading when cement is poured into the space therebetween and also the nature of the assembly prevents the wall forms from collapsing towards each other.

It is an object of theinvention to provide a tie rod assembly in which a single length tie rod may be used to separate concrete form walls-spaced varying distances apart.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a tie rod assembly that can be quickly assembled and .disassembled without the necessity of screwing bolts or locking nuts on and off the ends of the tie rod.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a tie rod assembly that does not require the use of spreaders or rod spread devices.

A further object of the invention is toprovide a tie rod assembly that will firmly secure studding to the concrete wall forms without the necessity of nailing them to the forms or in any other way permanently securing them to the forms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the tie rod assembly having a portion thereof shown in cross section;

FIG. 2 is a partial side elevation view of the tie rod;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT i Referring to FIG. 1 the tie rod assembly is generally designated numeral 10. It is comprised of a tie rod 14, a pair of spool-like tubular sleeve members 20, a pair of anchor pins 30 and a pair of wedges 40. In this particular illustration wall sheeting 11, which is normally 4; inch or inch plywood, is positioned vertically and spaced a distance equal to the desired thickness of the concrete wall to be poured. Depending upon the height and the thickness of the wall, the studding may be vertically or horizontally positioned. Normally on a shorter wall, horizontal studding is utilized.

FIG. 1 illustrates the use of vertical studding and the operation of tie rod assembly will be described with respect to this figure. With the wall sheeting 11 properly spaced, tie rod'14 is inserted through aligned apertures 12 in the wall sheet with the opposite tips 15 of the tie rod being located outside the spacing enclosed between the wall sheets. Next the head 31 of anchor pin 30 is inserted in aperture 12 at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tie rod. Channel 32 of the anchor pin is aligned with the body of the tie rod so that the anchor pin can have the internal surface of channel 32 pressed upwardly into engagement with the tie rod. Next the anchor pin is pivoted upwardly causing the head portion 31 which is formed as a hook to pass entirely through aperture 12 and lock itself against the inner surface of the wall sheeting ll. Simultaneously as this ishappening, the body of the anchor pin is being swung up into parallel alignment with the tie rod and the teeth 16 on the end of the tie rod are engagingly gripped by the teeth 34 protruding upwardly from the anchor pin. The teeth 34 of the anchor pin are formed in the bottom of a channel 35 that extends substantially along the length of the body portion 36 of the anchor pin as a continuation of channel 32. The head 31 is formed eccentrically with respect to the axis x that passes longitudinally through the anchor pin. Channel 32 is formed at an acute angle with respect to this same x axis of the anchor pin. After the anchor pin has been swung up into mating alignment with tie rod 14 the spool-like tubular sleeve member 20 has its bore 21 slid over the mated tie rod and anchor pin. The diameter of bore 21 would be only slightly larger than the maximum width of the combined tie rod and anchor pin. Spool-like tubular member 20 has flanges 23 and 24 formed at its respective ends. Flange 24 is slid over the combined tie rod and anchor pin structure until it is pressed into firm engagement with wall sheeting 11. Flange 24 when it is pressed into firm engagement with wall sheeting 11 relieves a substantial amount of pressure from the studs 51 and in the case of accidental failure of the studs the spool end will save the form from rupture.

Next one or two whales 50 may be positioned horizontally between two adjoining tie rod assemblies 10. A wedge-like member 40 is then driven into aperture 38 that passes all the way down through anchor pin 30. Depending upon whether the wall sheeting is 78 inch thick or inch thick the wedge will be driven down into tight engagement along plane 41 or plane 42. When this happens, the whales 50 will be pressed into tight engagement with vertical studs 51 that are pressed against the wall sheeting 11 to help it maintain its vertical position. As seen in FIG. 1, the wall sheeting is of a inch thickness so that the wedge 40 comes to rest against plane 42.

Various views of the end of the tie rod 14 and its drop forged teeth 16 are illustrated in FlGS. 2 through 4. The strength of these tie rods would be such that they can resist approximately a stress of 7,700 lbs. per rod. The anchor pin is illustrated in top plan view in FIG. 5.

It has numbered divisions to aid in setting the proper amount of spacing between the wall sheet members 11 of the form.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7 the specific structure of the spool-like tubular sleeve members 20 will be best understood. Flange 23 is formed as a full annular mem ber. Flange 24 is substantially formed in the shape of the letter D. lts surface 25 is normally in surface engagement with studding 51 when this studding is vertically oriented. Somewhere near the middle of the barrel portion 26 of the sleeve member is formed a tab 27 that extends perpendicular to the axis of the spool-like tubular sleeve member. Tab 27 when viewed in FIG. 1 functions to hold stud 51 firmly against wall sheeting 11. Secured between tab 27 and head 23 is welded a brace member 28 to add structural strength to the tab member.

ln applications where the studding is aligned horizontally the spool-like tubular sleeve member 20 would be oriented or rotated to the position seen in FIG. 6. In this orientation surface 25 would be aligned horizontally with respect to the wall sheeting 11, and it would be facing upwardly. Stud members 51 then would be positioned in surface engagement with surface 25 of head 24 with tab 27 holding stud members 51 firmly in contact with wall sheeting 11.

Where conditions permit, one wall face may need no studs or whales for intermediate wall height. In this instance the tubular member 20 on one side of the tie rod would have its flange 23 positioned against the outer surface of the wall sheeting 11 with the wedge 40 driven into aperture 38. There would be no studding or any whales used on this side of the wall sheeting. The other side of the wall sheeting would have your normal type arrangement as previously discussed.

After the concrete that has been poured into the form has set a sufficient amount of time, the wedges 40 can be' driven upwardly out of the apertures and removed. Following this the whales, studs, spool-like tubular members, anchor pins, and wall sheeting are removed from the concrete wall leaving only the ends of the tie rods extending outwardly from the wall. These ends are sometimes left in tact when that side of the wall is to be covered by dirt fill, otherwise they are cut or broken off at a point near the walls surface. Applicants tie rods can be formed either as illustrated or with relieved or break indents on their outer surface at the point where the ends of the tie rods are normally broken off. An added alternative is to apply the break indent to the tie rod at the pouring site by using a tool designed for such a purpose.

What is claimed is:

1. A concrete form tie rod assembly comprising an elongated tie rod having gripping means formed adjacent at least one or its ends, at least one anchor pin having a head and an elongated body, means on the elongated body portion for engaging the gripping means on ssid tie rod when the elongated tie rod and the elongated body of the anchor pin are positioned parallel to each other with a portion of their longitudinal sides in contact with each other, said head engaging the inner form wall, tubular sleeve means slidable over the end of said tie rod and the body portion of the anchor pin when these two members are grippingly engaging each other,

means for locking the tubular sleeve means in a fixed position after it has been slid over the end of the tie rod and the body portion of the anchor pin comprising a member slidably engaging an end of the sleeve and said pin.

2. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said gripping means comprises a plurality of teeth.

3. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on the elongated body portion of the anchor pin for engaging the gripping means on the tie rod comprises a plurality of teeth that mate with the teeth formed on the tie rod.

4. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said plurality of teeth on the body portion of the anchor pin are formed in a longitudinally aligned channel.

5. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tubular sleeve means has an annular flange formed at one of its ends for engaging the outer wall of the form.

6. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim l wherein said tubular sleeve means has an annular flange formed at both of its ends.

7. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 5 wherein the flange formed at the other end of said tubular sleeve means is substantially shaped like the letter D.

8. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the head of said anchor pin is offset with respect to the longitudinal extent of the elongated body portion to form a hook projection.

9. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the head of said anchor pin has a channel passing through it at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion.

10. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for locking the tubular sleeve means in fixed position comprises an aperture passing all the way through the body portion of the anchor pin and the member is a wedge that is driven into said aperture. 

1. A concrete form tie rod assembly comprising an elongated tie rod having gripping means formed adjacent at least one or its ends, at least one anchor pin having a head and an elongated body, means on the elongated body portion for engaging the gripping means on ssid tie rod when the elongated tie rod and the elongated body of the anchor pin are positioned parallel to each other with a portion of their longitudinal sides in contact with each other, said head engaging the inner form wall, tubular sleeve means slidable over the end of said tie rod and the body portion of the anchor pin when these two members are grippingly engaging each other, means for locking the tubular sleeve means in a fixed position after it has been slid over the end of the tie rod and the body portion of the anchor pin comprising a member slidably engaging an end of the sleeve and said pin.
 2. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said gripping means comprises a plurality of teeth.
 3. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 2 wherein said means on the elongated body portion of the anchor pin for engaging the gripping means on the tie rod comprises a plurality of teeth that mate with the teeth formed on the tie rod.
 4. A concrete form tIe rod assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein said plurality of teeth on the body portion of the anchor pin are formed in a longitudinally aligned channel.
 5. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tubular sleeve means has an annular flange formed at one of its ends for engaging the outer wall of the form.
 6. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said tubular sleeve means has an annular flange formed at both of its ends.
 7. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 5 wherein the flange formed at the other end of said tubular sleeve means is substantially shaped like the letter D.
 8. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the head of said anchor pin is offset with respect to the longitudinal extent of the elongated body portion to form a hook projection.
 9. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the head of said anchor pin has a channel passing through it at an acute angle with respect to the axis of the elongated body portion.
 10. A concrete form tie rod assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for locking the tubular sleeve means in fixed position comprises an aperture passing all the way through the body portion of the anchor pin and the member is a wedge that is driven into said aperture. 